Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>]

Question : What makes GDP grow faster, a normal society humming happily away 
and where everybody has enough or a huge disaster killing hundreds, maiming 
thousands while destroying a mass of infrastructure and causing a local 
famine?

The answer is evident, a catastrophe is much better for economic growth than 
a happy normal. Think of the evacuation and mass transport needed to get 
victims to safety or hospital, emergency supplies being brought in and 
distribution regulated. Damaged buildings being torn down. The health 
industry working like mad and undertakers making gold. And then maybe 
rebuilding all that was lost.

Only in this case will an economy boom and as Vandana Shiva says it is 
anti-life. I think it is a general rule that growth goes together with 
destruction always.

What makes for faster growth? An oil tanker that reaches it's destination 
without problems or one that breaks up and pollutes the shoreline and the 
ocean and is definitely anti-life?
The last possibility of course. Many more people will get involved trying to 
clear up the mess. Fish and shell fish will get more expensive. Insurance 
premiums will go up and so on.

If we don't stop aiming for growth we may all get killed.

John

Subject: [Livingontheland] “growth”


Vandana Shiva: 'In effect “growth” measures conversion of nature into
cash, & commons into commodities.' Anti-life
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/01/how-economic-growth-has-become-anti-life?CMP=twt_gu




_______________________________________________
Livingontheland mailing list
Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland